Looking to Maintain the Pattern• So far this season, Dartmouth has alternated losses and wins over its first five games. After dropping a 73-60 decision at Canisius on Saturday, the Big Green are hoping their pattern continues at Sacred Heart.• This is the second of five straight road games for the Big Green, whose last win outside of Hanover came in the penultimate contest last season at Penn, just their seventh win at The Palestra since the Ivy League began formal play in 1956-57.• Senior Taylor Johnson led Dartmouth with a season-high 13 points at Canisius while freshman Chris Knight came off the bench to add a dozen.• The Big Green’s top scorer on the season thus far is senior Miles Wright at 13.0 ppg, but Knight and sophomore Brendan Barry are right behind him at 12.8.• Barry produced just seven points in the loss to the Golden Griffins, the first game in which he did not score at least 10, though he extended his streak of games with at least two 3-pointers to seven (dating back to last year).• Speaking of treys, Wright had three at Canisius, his third straight game with a trio of triples.• Knight was just 5-of-11 on field goals, dropping him from atop the Division FG percentage rankings to 14th at 67.5, a mark that leads the league.• Although Dartmouth has struggled at the line the last two games (15-of-25, .600), the team free throw percentage (.764) still ranks among the top 50 nationally.

Series vs. Sacred Heart• The Pioneers are the second of three teams this season that Dartmouth is playing for the first time.• The first of those contests was against Division III Emerson on Nov. 14, a 35-point Big Green win.• The last time Dartmouth beat a first-time opponent on the road was three years ago at Mercer in a 67-51 triumph.• Dartmouth is 13-12 against current Northeast Conference schools, having played Bryant (3-3) and Central Connecticut State (4-2) more than any other programs in the league.

Scouting the Pioneers• Picked to finish fifth in the 10-team Northeast Conference, Sacred Heart has won three of its last five since opening the year with three straight defeats.• This past Saturday, the Pioneers were handily beaten at St. John’s, 90-55, three days after beating UMass Lowell on the road, 87-80.• Sacred Heart’s strength is its frontcourt with forwards Mario Matasovic and Joseph Lopez averaging a team-best 13.3 and 12.6 ppg, respectively. Mataosovic has been nearly as accurate as Knight, hitting 65.7 percent of his shots, 24th in the nation.• The further the Pioneers get away from the basket, the less success they have had, shooting just 26.4 percent from the perimeter (among the bottom 10 nationally) and 61.4 percent at the foul line (bottom 12).• On the boards, Sacred Heart has dominated with a rebound margin of more than eight per game. Lopez hauls in 8.6 caroms a night, while E.J. Anosike contributes 7.1 and Matasovic 5.9 more.• Point guard Sean Hoehn runs the offense, distributing 4.1 assists a night while also producing 11.1 ppg.• Kinnon LaRose has been the most consistent long-range threat with 15 3-pointers at a .357 clip.• The Pioneers have a been a bit susceptible to turning the ball over, averaging 19.1 per game, worst among Division I schools.• Anthony Latina (Brandeis ’95), just the third head coach ever at Sacred Heart, is in his fifth season at the helm, sporting a 48-85 record. He took over the program after spending eight seasons as an assistant, and was at Central Connecticut for six years and UMass Lowell for four before that.

NEC Front RowDartmouth fans can keep up with the action at Sacred Heart by watching video stream free of charge courtesy of NEC Front Row. This is one of just two games this season that won’t be available either on the Ivy League Network or an ESPN network, the other coming at Boston College on Jan. 13.

Johnson Takes His TurnIn the first five games this season, Dartmouth has had four different players lead the team in scoring. The newest addition to the group was senior Taylor Johnson who posted a season-high 13 points in the 73-60 loss at Canisius, just the second time in his career he has paced the Big Green on the scoreboard. His other such game was on Feb. 27, 2016, when he had 18 points in an overtime loss at Yale.

Wright RangeIn each of the last three games, senior Miles Wright has knocked down three 3-pointers, boosting his season accuracy to 42.3 percent (11-of-26). He is the first Big Green player to hit at least a trio of treys in three consecutive games since Alex Mitola did it in five straight early in the 2014-15 season.

More from the PerimeterWright isn’t the only player with a nice streak of 3-pointers as sophomore Brendan Barry has had at least two triples in each of the first five contests this year. Added on to the final two games of last season when he had two in each as well, Barry is sitting on a streak of seven straight games with at least a pair of 3-pointers. Mitola is also the most recent player to have a streak as long as that at 13 (three ending the 2013-14 campaign and 10 more to start the next year).

Sharp-Shooting KnightUsually swords are associated with knights, but in the case of freshman Chris Knight, we have to talk about his shooting accuracy — shooting the ball, of course. After going a perfect 5-for-5 against Loyola to move to the top of the NCAA leaders in field goal percentage, he went just 5-of-11 at Canisius, dropping his percentage to a relatively pedestrian 67.5, still good for 14th in the nation. I guess that’s OK …